Egg container



H. MERS EGG CONTAINER Aug. 30, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 12, 1965wi wew Arm/WE) Aug. 30, 1966 H. MERS 3,269,634

EGG CONTAINER Filed Feb. 12, 1965 13 Sheets-Sheet 2 Akeim 4/5/65 I NVENTOR.

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EGG CONTAINER Filed Feb. 12, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I N VEN TOR.

ATTOEA/EY United States Patent 3,269,634 EGG CONTAINER Herman Mers, 31Jayson Ave., Great Neck, N.Y. Filed Feb. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 432,236 9Claims. (Cl. 229-25) The present invention relates to egg containers,and more particularly to egg container structural arrangements used inthe automatic packaging of eggs.

At present, eggs are packaged by the dozen or dozens in rectangularcontainers made of paper pulp. There are usually two matching sectionsto the container, forming an egg shape holder between the sections. Theeggs are deposited so that they stand vertically in the holders.Naturally, these containers are produced cheaply and only the cheapestpaper pulp is used. These containers are highly absorbent and veryrigid. There is absolutely no give or resilience to the container. As aresult, if an egg is smashed during packaging or during transportation,usually the entire package is thrown away. It is often impossible tostop the machinery to remove the good eggs. If the package with thebroken egg is not soon removed from the assembly line, other packagesare likely to have egg yoke spilled thereon with the result that eventhough these other packages have no broken eggs, they are unmarketable,or will not command the full price. Attempts have been made therefore tosubstitute plastic containers for the paper pulp containers, but withoutsuccess. Plastic tends to be more expensive than paper and, althoughthere is no problem in designing an expensive plastic container, theprice is prohibitive. Although attempts have been made to provide aplastic container for packaging eggs, none, as far as I am aware haveever been successful when put into practice commercially on a largescale industrial production.

It has now been discovered that a plastic container can be provided withconsiderable resiliency and which will compare favorably from the pricestandpoint with a paper pulp container. This plastic container isnon-absorbent and can be readily washed or spray washed to remove anyyoke from broken eggs. Furthermore, the eggs can be packaged in theplastic container by the same mechanical methods or using the same handmethods as are presently used to package the eggs in paper pulpcontainers.

Therefore, the principal object of the present invention is to provide aresilient, washable egg container which is inexpensive to produce andwhich can be used in present automated egg packaging procedures.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides inthe novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details ofconstruction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood thatchanges in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed maybe made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from thespirit of the invention. Furthermore, other objects and advantages willbecome apparent from the following description when taken in connectionwith the accompanying, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of the egg containerarrangement contemplated herein;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional explanation of how eggs are retained in the eggcontainer arrangement shown in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the egg containerarrangement shown in FIGURE 1, when eggs are retained therein;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a top view of how plastic sheets are formed so asto be used for one structure of the egg container contemplated herein;

FIGURE 5 shows an enlarged view corresponding to a portion of the viewillustrated in FIGURE 4 and containing a slight modification;

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FIGURE 6, by means of a side view, explains the formation of onestructure of the egg container from the plastic sheets illustrated inFIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 shows possible modified versions of one of the featuresillustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5; and,

FIGURES 8 and 9 are slightly modified versions of some of the featuresshown in FIGURE 1.

Generally speaking, the present invention contemplates an egg containerstructure wherein two thin plastic sheets defining a plane have shapedtherein a plurality of flat resilient egg supporting means or eggsupporting sections regularly spaced in rows and, a plurality of hollowconical egg receiving sections transverse to said defined plane inalternate rows between the rows of egg supporting means, the eggreceiving sections being olfset from the egg supporting means, said twosheets being juxtapositioned in back to back relationship so that theegg supporting means are disposed over the conical egg receivingsections to form a first structure of the egg container with rows ofcombined egg receiving sections and resilient egg supporting means; asecond identical structure being disposed in face to face relationshipwith said first structure, the two structures resiliently holding eggsbetween opposed egg supporting means in said hollow conical eggreceiving sections, each of said structures appearing as a flat piecewith a plurality of hollow raised and depressed cones on both sidesthereof, resilient egg supporting means between each four cones, andwalls between adjacent raised cones to give the structure some rigidity.

The egg container arrangement 11, shown in the drawing is made ofexpanded polystyrene foam material or other formable plastic. A sheet 13of expanded polystyrene has been formed to provide rows of egg receivingsections 15. Each egg receiving section 15 has a conical orfrustro-conical shape, and as used herein these terms are synonymoussince the object of the cone is to receive the conical end of an egg andprovide a support for the next row to be placed above. The egg receivingsections are disposed in longitudinal rows. Between alternate rows ofegg receiving sections are egg supporting sections 17. The eggsupporting sections consist of a plurality of radial cuts emanating froma central point 19 between four adjacent conical egg receiving sections.These cuts thus divide the piece of polystyrene material into pieshapedportions 21. These pie-shaped portions 21 will flex or bend inwardlywhen subjected to pressure by an egg, so that effectively, the bottompart of the egg will be supported by these sections, and held in thecone. The central part of the egg supporting section need not be a point19, but can also be a cut out circle 19a shown in FIGURE 8. In whichcase the pie-shaped portion 21a will have the front thereof slightlycut-off. Or the egg supporting sections may be only a cut out circle 19bas shown in FIGURE 9. To provide some rigidity to the structure, walls23 are provided between adjacent egg receiving sections at the backthereof. These walls 23 may be almost as tall as the cones or, onlypartly raised walls 23a, 23b, shown in FIGURE 7, may be provided. Theegg container arrangement 11 requires two sets of structures 25. Eachstnucture is made of two thin plastic sheets 27 and 29 which arepreferably molded simultaneously but in opposite phase. The two sheetsare joined along a connecting strip 31 and one sheet is then folded overthe other sheet so that the egg supporting sections 17 will be disposedover the egg receiving sections 15 as illustrated in FIG. 6. When sofolded over, the two sheets 27 and 29 form a structure 33. Two suchstructures when placed in face to face relationship as illustrated inFIG. 1 are then used to pack the eggs. The eggs pierce through thecenter point 19 of the egg supporting sections in each structure so asto be suspended within two opposed conical egg receiving sections asshown in u FIGURE 2. To facilitate handling of the two assembled halves,finger holding spaces 35 are provided to allow the hand to grip thelower half of the arrangement.

Although the egg supporting sections are shown as having radial cuts, itis also possible to construct the structures described with other typesof cuts.

The two structure halves of the egg container arrangement can be formedfrom rectangular plastic sheets in a mold. The cone walls and radialcuts may be made in either one or two operations.

Usually, workpiece sheets of expanded polystyrene in rolls are passedthrough a machine and heated by heaters on top and bottom of thematerial. As the workpiece is held in the machine, the mold comes upfrom underneath. The flat workpiece is drawn down by vacuum and formed.The vacuum is shut off. The mold is withdrawn and the workpiece is takenout. The workpiece is then placed in a die and die out. However, it isalso possible to combine both the forming and die cutting operation.

Although the present invention has been described in conjunction withpreferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications andvariations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readilyunderstand. Such modifications and variations are considered to bewithin the purview and scope of the invention and appended claims.

I claim:

1. An egg container structure, comprising in combination, a thin plasticsheet defining a plane having shaped therein a plurality of flatresilient egg supporting means regularly spaced in rows and, a pluralityof hollow conical egg receiving sections transverse to said definedplane, in alternate rows between the rows of egg supporting means, theegg receiving sections being ofiset from the egg supporting means, sothat when two said sheets are juxtapositioned in back to backrelationship said egg supporting means will be disposed over said hollowconical egg receiving means forming said structure, and when two saidstructures are placed in face to face relationship, eggs will beresiliently supported within said two structure arrangements in theconical egg receiving sections of each structure by the egg supportingmeans each of said structures appearing as a flat piece with a pluralityof hollow raised and depressed cones thereon,

resilient egg supporting means between each four rectangularly adjacentcones, and a wall between adjacent cones to give the structure somerigidity.

2. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said wall being of a height whichis only a fraction of the height of said raised cones.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said wall being of a heightsubstantially corresponding to the height of said raised cones.

4. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said supporting means being formedby a plurality of radial cuts forming pie-shaped resilient fiatsections, the eggs being pressed thereinbetween forcing said resilientmeans outwards into the hollow conical egg receiving sections.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said egg supporting means beingformed by a circular aperture, the egg being pressed in said aperture,said aperture resiliently supporting the egg shell within the hollowconical egg receiving section.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said egg supporting means beingformed by a circular aperture having a plurality of outward radial cuts,the egg being pressed in said aperture and being supported within thehollow conical egg receiving section.

7. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said structure being rectangularincluding hand holding means along two opposite sides thereof.

8. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said structure being made ofexpanded polystyrene foam.

9. A structure as claimed in claim 1, said structure being made ofplastic sheets.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,890,801 12/1932Anton 229-29 2,236,952 4/1941 Sandell 229-29 2,872,062 2/1959 Lambert217-265 3,000,528 9/1961 Kuhl et al 229-25 X 3,049,259 8/1962 Mazzi etal. 229-25 X 3,093,286 6/1963 Brickner et al. 229-25 3,131,846 5/1964Whiteford 229-25 3,204,848 9/1965 Olson et al. 229-25 GEORGE O. RALSTON,Primary Examiner.

1. AN EGG CONTAINER STRUCTURE, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, A THIN PLASTICSHEET DEFINING A PLANE HAVING SHAPED THEREIN A PLURALITY OF FLATRESILIENT EGG SUPPORTING MEANS ANGULARLY SPACED IN ROWS, AND, APLURALITY OF HOLLOW CONICAL EGG RECEIVING SECTIONS TRANSVERSE TO SAIDDEFINED PLANE, IN ALTERNATE ROWS BETWEEN THE ROWS OF EGG SUPPORTINGMEANS, THE EGG RECEIVING SECTIONS BEING OFFSET FROM THE EGG SUPPORTINGMEANS, SO THAT WHEN TWO SAID SHEETS ARE JUXTAPOSITIONED IN BACK TO BACKRELATIONSHIP SAID EGG SUPPORTING MEANS WILL BE DISPOSED OVER SAID HOLLOWCONICAL EGG RECEIVING MEANS FORMING SAID STRUCTURE, AND WHEN TWO SAIDSTRUCTURES ARE PLACED IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP, EGGS WILL BERESILIENTLY SUPPORTED WITHIN SAID TWO STRUCTURE ARRANGEMENTS IN THECONICAL EGG RECEIVING SECTIONS OF EACH STRUCTURE BY THE EGG SUPPORTINGMEANS EACH OF SAID STRUCTURES APPEARING AS A FLAT PIECE WITH A PLURALITYOF HOLLOW RAISED AND DEPRESSED CONES THEREON, RESILIENT EGG SUPPORTINGMEANS BETWEEN EACH FOUR RECTANGULARLY ADJACENT CONES, AND A WALL BETWEENADJACENT CONES TO GIVE THE STRUCTURE SOME RIGIDITY.